Natalie Keepers now faces life in prison in connection with the murder of a 13-year-old Virginia girl in January after charges against her were upgraded Tuesday. (Blacksburg Police Department via AP)

(Newser)
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A second Virginia Tech student is now facing life in prison in connection with the abduction and murder of a 13-year-old girl last weekend, ABC News reports. David Eisenhauer, 18, and Natalie Keepers, 19, were arrested on Saturday—the day Nicole Lovell's body was found in North Carolina and three days after she first disappeared from her bedroom in Blacksburg, Virginia. Eisenhauer was immediately charged with murder, while Keepers was charged with improper disposal of a body and being an accessory to murder after the fact, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. On Tuesday, authorities upgraded the charges against Keepers to include accessory to murder before the fact, which carries a punishment of 20 years to life.

Authorities released charging documents and held a press conference Tuesday, but still little is known about the murder, the Baltimore Sun reports. Preliminary indications are that Lovell was stabbed to death on the same day she disappeared, but results from an official autopsy won't be available for weeks. Police say Eisenhauer used an unspecified relationship with Lovell to abduct her. Her mother, Tammy Weeks, says the two met online. No motive has been given for the crime, and authorities say Eisenhauer believes the truth will set him free. Weeks also spoke at Tuesday's press conference, remembering the daughter who "touched many people throughout her short life." Weeks says Lovell survived a liver transplant, lymphoma, and more. She loved pandas, Mountain Dew, and Dr. Pepper and wanted to be on American Idol.